Food and drink … each night there’s a different food truck outside the Thirsty wine shop/bar

You might imagine that in a university city as renowned as Cambridge, the student population is pivotal to its cultural life. “Not remotely,” says Cambridge-based arts journalist, Harry Sword: “It’s bizarre; they live a closeted existence. Cambridge University is a boiler room in terms of the amount of work they’re given, and they have sophisticated entertainment networks in each college so it’s a very self-contained world.

“People forget that over 100,000 people were born and live here, regardless of the university,” Swords adds. From the independent enclave of Mill Road to the annual (sponsor-free) Strawberry Fair music festival, a dedicated minority of those locals work doggedly to maintain the city’s bohemian edge.

In 2010, Cambridge was dubbed “clone town” due to its large concentration of chain businesses but on the fringes of the city centre – where rents are less ruinous – its DIY collectives plough on. Tight-knit, frequently interlinked groups – such as experimental music promoters Bad Timing and Crushing Death & Grief – and the artist-run space Aid & Abet are, says Donna Lynas, director of Wysing Arts Centre, “Making things happen in ad hoc social spaces where people can just get on and do things.”

On the wider music-front, Cambridge’s love of drum’n’bass endures, most visibly at veteran night, Warning, and it has produced a stream of notable hip-hop and d’n’b artists, including Dirty Dike and Commix. Simon Baker, who runs the Green Mind gig promotion agency – which brings touring guitar bands to Cambridge – says the indie, folk and rock scene is thriving: “It’s the healthiest I’ve known it in 20-odd years.” Compiling the Soundcloud playlist for this feature, Baker struggled to limit himself to just 40(!) tracks.

MUSIC

The Portland Arms

“Legendary in Cambridge,” declares Harry Sword, who writes about music for the Quietus and Vice. “It’s a traditional pub that has kept its regulars but it’s also a successful venue and supportive of everything from folk and indie or live hip-hop to weird electronic stuff.” It has been this way for decades, too. “The Soft Boys did a live album there in the 1970s,” says Green Mind’s Simon Baker, although the days when the separate rear venue space was “small and sweaty, a bit stuck together with gaffer-tape” are gone. In 2012, it was modernised and extended to a 200 capacity. Now it even has air-con.• 129 Chesterton Road, theportlandarms.co.uk

CB2

“It’s a bistro-cafe but it has a basement room that holds about 50, where you’ll find a lot of folk and experimental music,” says Baker. “Also the Golden Hind pub has an upstairs room that Cambridge Folk Club use (ticketed gigs, Fridays); they’ve had people like Boo Hewerdine play there.”•5-7 Norfolk Street, cb2bistro.com

The Corner House

This “oasis in the middle of a retail park,” as Baker describes it, is “primarily a pub but it does loads of live music, including punk and local bands stuff. Jo [Tomkins] who runs it has been in bands and she really takes care of it. It’s a great little space.” • 231 Newmarket Road, cornerhousepubcambridge.com

Relevant Record Cafe

“It’s somewhere to have a coffee and buy vinyl,” says Wysing Arts Centre’s Donna Lynas, “but then it also has various grassroots events running.” These include DJ nights – spanning genres from ambient to leftfield hip-hop – and gigs that tend to be jazz or folk. There has been the odd outbreak of gnarly garage-punk, too. Baker also recommends monitoring the Unitarian Church and St Philips on Mill Road, which are used for gigs: “I’ve done acoustic stuff at the Unitarian, like Sivu and, years ago, Omar Souleyman played there.”• 260 Mill Road, relevantrecordcafe.co.uk

DRINK

Thirsty

“Essentially, it’s an off-licence – it used to be a Threshers – with a bit of seating,” says Alex Rushmer, the Cambridge-based chef and 2010 Masterchef finalist. “The co-owner, Sam Owens, has a four-tap growler system for refills of mainly UK craft beers and an amazing selection of small-producer wines. There’s a different food truck at Thirsty every night, and Sam also runs a beer garden, Thirsty Riverside at Cambridge Museum of Technology [winter season starts 27 October], where there’s loads going on from DJs to open-air cinema.”• Beer from £7 a litre, 46 Chesterton Road, wearethirsty.co.uk

196

“This bar is on Mill Road, which is where lots of independents have opened because it’s cheaper. Its cocktails are amazing,” says Vicky Fenton, who runs a mobile bar, the Spirited Mare, and the annual Wild Wood Disco (30 June 2018). “It’s small, so the windows get all steamed up and it’s not often I leave without a wobble in my step. Last time, I was on negronis but I’m adventurous here because everything on its hand-written menu is interesting.” • Cocktails from £6.95, 196 Mill Road, 196bar.com

Pint Shop

An Edwardian-style, 23-tap craft beer and gin palace, Pint Shop also serves cracking bar snacks (chips and curry sauce, scotch eggs etc, from £3.50) and, in its restaurant, ace small-plates such as fried squid with saffron aioli and charcoal-grilled flatbread kebabs. “It’s a city centre favourite and the covered beer garden is cosy in winter,” says Heidi White, founder of foodPark, a collective of food trucks that serves lunch in various Cambridge locations weekly. “I’m into Pint Shop’s brewery collaborations, such as the dry-hopped pils, Appalachian Green, created with Marble Beers, and new gins are always being added.”•Pint from £3.60, 10 Peas Hill, pintshop.co.uk